Pistol-thumb safety

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

Trainers, people who have been trained by professional trainers, people who study articles about the latest theories & techniques in modern pistolcraft..

... what's the scoop on using a manual safety on a pistol?

Should you look for a gun that does not have a manual safety so you're not tempted to use it inappropriately or accidentally have it set to the wrong position at a critical moment?

If your handgun came with a manual safety,
should you use it? When? Under what circumstances would you engage the safety?

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

SECOND QUESTION:

And this is truly open to the peanut gallery --even people with zero knowledge and zero interest in learning the latest techniques are best practices.


WOULD Your answer to the first post be any different if the gun owner in question or a very casual inexperienced disinterested gun owner? One who is never going to take a formal class,
does not read any articles,
doesn't subscribe to gun magazines, doesn't talk to other gun owners about gun issues,
and doesn't do any regular practice.

A person who has owned a Home Defense or glove box handgun gun for decades but rarely uses it and is now shopping for a replacement because the old one was lost, stolen, or broke down.

But after he or she takes this new gun to the range once or maybe twice during the first year of its ownership, the gun will likely never be fired again for 3-5 years.

Is that kind of person going to need to use a safety switch more --or less?

 

[steviesterno]

If you’re going to carry a single action, yes you should use the safety and train with it. It’s not rocket surgery and it’s keeping the hammer, which is under tension, from hiring the firing pin and setting off a round. Silly not to.

For striker fired? It’s not under tension at rest. So I don’t bother with them.

 

[THREEJAYS]

I have shot guns all my life. Maybe I am conditioned to long gun safeties I don’t know. I personally like a thumb safety, I just feel better personally. I have not taken a formal firearms class from an instructor. I am hardheaded and if I did I don’t know that it would change my thinking

 

[AmbiEncE]

I learned to draw and release the safety simultaneously so having one is never a issue. A few of my handguns have safeties but most dont.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

I personally like a thumb safety, I just feel better personally.

So, when do you engage / disengage the safety? Anytime gun is loaded but you're not actually raising it towards the target at that moment?

 

[BHPSteel]

A matter of training.

As you draw and begin to present, off comes the safety.

As you prepare to reholster, include 'safety on' as part of the sequence as you come off of 'ready'.

 

[UptaCamp]

Safety or no safety; it all comes down to how you train with your defensive firearm.

 

[palmettomoon]

A matter of training.

As you draw and begin to present, off comes the safety.

As you prepare to reholster, include 'safety on' as part of the sequence as you come off of 'ready'.

This would be my most common answer unless the questioner is carrying a S&W Shield.
That tiny manual safety could get you killed. I advised her to carry in a holster that covers the trigger fully and leave it loaded and disengaged.

 

[BHPSteel]

This would be my most common answer unless the questioner is carrying a S&W Shield.
That tiny manual safety could get you killed. I advised her to carry in a holster that covers the trigger fully and leave it loaded and disengaged.

Actually, the same with my P365, but don't tell anyone.

I just train as though I have a non-manual model. God help me if the manual safety gets accidentally engaged and I have need of the gun in a hurry.